Dogster site
I have a new site where I can meet and collect dog friends - through cyberspace. It is not quite the same as at the dog park but...
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November 30, 2005
November 25, 2005
Thanksgiving and snow...
Yesterday was a day Joan called Thanksgiving. She continued to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Then people came over - my good friend, Ann, and Eileen, and Martha and Miguel, but then two men I've never met came over too - J.B. and Javier. I was suspicious of them at first. I warmed up to J.B. pretty quickly but Javier I was still cautious about - he was really tall and also spoke loudly at some times. After he gave me a treat, I seemed to trust him more (but that was at the end of the night).
This morning I woke up to snow! My favorite. Joan and I went on a walk and I was up on my hind legs smelling a garbage can. There was something smelling good in there.... and then the guy who lived there who was in his garage told Joan that their turkey carcass was in the garbage. Well, I already knew that because I could smell it!
Joan and I went outside a bit later in the backyard - the snow is glorious.
Joan - please come play with me...
November 23, 2005
I'm a carnivore
I'm not sure these pictures need explanation besides the fact that the white blob on the cutting board was a huge turkey - MEAT - that I really wanted to get a look at. Or even better a taste of. Joan was doing funny stuff to it. She stuck her hand under the skin and pulled it away from the meat and then put some red stuff inside there. Her hands were all red!! It was funny. I wish I could get that refrigerator door open but it is too high for me. :-(
Joan is spending too much time in the kitchen. I want her to lounge on the couch with me, my new favorite place. At least I'm hopeful that I might get some of the food that she's diligently making!
November 22, 2005
No longer incognito
I'm all brown, so at night when Joan and I go walking (now because it gets dark at 4:30 Joan and I walk in the dark a lot) no one can really see me. I blend into the darkness. Sometimes Joan wears a reflective vest but usually I'm out in front of her so sometimes people or bikes or cars don't see me. I kind of like it - I'm incognito. I can see everything because my eyes work well at night and I can smell really well, but the humans' eyes don't work so well at night.
But this has all ended because Joan bought me a flashing light that hangs on my collar. Now, I'm more like a biker!! I see the bikes ride by with a flashing red or white light. Now, I'm more like them because I walk around with this flashing thing on. At first when Joan turned it on, it startled me a little bit - I was scared (as usual). But as soon as we started walking, it did not bother me at all. I know that it means that I'm safer overall which is always good.
On another subject - I can tell that Joan doesn't want me to bark at other dogs when we pass them. Sometimes I get really crazy barking at them. So I've toned myself down and in the past few days, I haven't barked at any of them. Joan makes me sit and tells me I'm a good girl and keeps me close to her, so I just behave.
November 20, 2005
My weekend
Joan took me to the park yesterday, and I had a great time there. I liked the dogs there and was running around with them or I was going into the river. Here's a picture Joan took of me - if you look hard you'll see that she caught me with my tongue out of my mouth!! Geez.
The only thing that I did NOT like at the park was at the end, when we were walking back up to the car, three dogs came over to me and then one jumped on my back. I was not at all happy about that. I squirmed down and then the three were over me and I was growling at them at this point. I could tell Joan was mad at the dogs and their people were not very effective in getting their dogs away from me. I ran ahead of Joan and we escaped. Phew.
Later that day, Joan gave me a bone to chew on. :-)
I love bones.
I got to see Chris and Anneke - Joan's friends this weekend. I can tell that Chris has her own dog...I can smell it. Anneke does not have a dog but she took care of me a while back so I like her a lot. I did not jump up on them - Joan is making me be very courteous when people come over.
November 17, 2005
I didn't mean to but I made Joan fall down
It was a cold, cold day yesterday. Joan took me for a walk around dinnertime. It was really freezing - not so much for me, but I know Joan was cold - it was about 10 degrees out with a windchill closer to -1. She was very generous to take me on the 1 mile walk loop we have despite it being that cold (I think she didn't realize it was that cold given that a few days ago it was nearly 60 degrees). Anyway, we were nearing home when I saw him - Crash - the golden retriever who lives across from me in the blue house. I can't say why but he bugs me. I think it is because he thinks he's better than I am - and I think I should be better than him. I think because I wasn't treated well, now I like to be dominant - the alpha dog on the block!
So I started barking and pulling and Joan took me out into the road around a car to pass Crash without being really near to him. Joan was holding onto the leash and I was doing acrobatics and barking and snarling (as I look back at it, I'm a little embarassed at my behavior but I have to do anything I can to show my superiority). Joan's hands were really cold (she told me she has now sworn off those gloves because they are not warm). Somehow in one of my acrobatic tricks, I pushed Joan over and she fell down onto the street. Since she had so much clothing on, it wasn't too bad of a fall, but she did actually skin her knee (somehow her pants did not rip which was good for me because I already made her rip her wool coat on the fence so another ripped good clothing would not do good things for me, I bet).
As I look back - besides my bad behavior - it was kind of hilarious because there was another man walking behind us and he chose to follow Joan and me into the street and then, there is Joan on the ground after I made her fall, with a crazy dog. Of course she is holding on to me because otherwise who knows what would happen if she let me go and I could go near Crash.
It's all in the attitude - the yellow lab, Chloe, who lives in the house next to where Joan fell down has a great attitude and I like her a lot. We run around her yard like madwomen! But see, Chloe knows that I am the alpha. She defers to me- she is also younger than I am, so she respects me. So, I'll play with her. I also have much more attitude when I'm on leash. Joan puts that "gentle leader" on my nose and then I feel very subordinate - which I don't like at all.
Anyway, I am really sorry about Joan's injury!
November 13, 2005
Dead fish...is it worth it?
This morning Joan took me to the dog park where I can run around at my speed. Some woman complimented me, saying she liked my markings! Another woman thought I was a puppy. Ha ha. She was surprised to find out I was almost 5 years old. I am a puppy at heart, though.
I have to tell you something though. I found a dead fish that some dog must have dragged up into the forest from the Mississippi River. Joan was not nearby so I started rolling on it. What fun! Then Joan saw me and yelled at me to stop and go over to her. So I did. And she thought all was fine until we got back to the car and got in. After about 10 seconds, she told me that I stank. That's not very nice. She said I smelled like fish.
Then we got home and I knew something was up when I saw her get some towels and put them in the bathroom and then shampoo then my choke chain on me. I started to hide out. But Joan picked me up and took me into the bathroom. I knew it! She was going to give me a bath. I hate that. I got in the tub myself and I did not escape - I just let her wash me. FOREVER. She washed my neck twice where the fish smell was. And she still doesn't think it is gone but I think she was tired of being in the bathtub with me.
Was it worth it? Rolling on the fish for 5 seconds .... and a bath that takes 30 minutes plus drying off in the house when I'd rather be outside (except it's 30 degrees out - windchill- so Joan won't let me out because it is too cold for a wet dog). I'm really not sure.
November 10, 2005
Pom Pon Trees
This morning on a walk with Joan, I was very frightened by what Joan called an "art installation." What I saw was a dark round unnatural ball (Joan says a big pom pom but I don't know what that is --she said I'd have to go to high school football games to know) on top of a tree. It freaked me out. I stopped and crouched and looked suspiciously of it. Then we kept walking but they kept appearing and I was not comfortable with them. Joan will take a picture to share the next time we are there.
These are located along W. River Road between Franklin and 25th St. It is an art installation that is supposed to highlight buckthorn - an invasive European brush/shrub/tree that is clogging up our native areas like along the river. The buckthorn doesn't allow the native plants to live which is not a good thing. People use this plant because it grows fast but the birds and wind move the seeds to the river and there it goes crazy growing.
Maybe you should go see the art installation and let me know if the pom pom trees freak you out! I think I'm okay with them now but....
November 06, 2005
Another level of our relationship
I have risen to another level in my relationship with Joan. I'll give you a clue:
Yes, Joan has been letting me up on the couch with her when she watches TV or reads students' papers or whatever! I don't know exactly what happened that changed her mind to be so open to me on the couch. Perhaps it is the rising heating costs that she's talked about -- you know, I'm quite the heat generator -- or maybe she just wants a dog to cozy up with!! For whatever reason, I'm pretty happy about it. However, I wish she'd spend more time on the couch so I can sit there with her. Too much of her time is in the kitchen or in her office on the computer - and I don't have cozy couches in those rooms. Now, let me say that this new treat seems to not be available at all times. Though she doesn't say anything, I get the sense that Joan doesn't want me up there when she is not up there, too. That seems weird to me. So if she's home, I'm careful about waiting until I'm invited up there. But as soon as Joan leaves, I get right up on the couch!
However, the other night Joan was in another room, and she came into the living room to find:
woops! I was up on the couch cozy and warm, and she found me. She did not do anything but come over and give me hug. Cool!
So that's that.
Yesterday, Joan and I went to the park where I run around like a maniac. We met another dog with my same name, Bosco. That dog was a brown and white Australian shepherd. I like that type of dog - they don't scare me at all. In any case, that Bosco's owner had treats in his pocket and I could smell them. I kept putting my nose on his pocket and licked his hand. Then, Joan said, 'do you have treats?" She told him how I can smell a treat a mile away - especially in pockets since Tim, my favorite neighbor, feeds me treats out of his pocket. So I've learned that the pocket area of human's clothes are great places to sniff to see if any food is in there. Bosco's owner and Joan talked about how they both don't like the Lake of the Isles dog park as it is has a "dog packs" mentality. I really did not like that park when we went there. I was scared out of my mind, so Joan and I don't ever go there anymore.
Recently, I've seen and smelled a few more dead squirrels. The most recent was a freshly dead (blood was oozing out of him and I could really smell this one) squirrel on the street. I pulled and pulled to go and investigate more closely, but Joan would not let me go into the street. I guess she knows what she is doing but I really wanted to smell that squirrel.